Tactical Lessons
by LadyAlambiel
Summary: Tactical lessons in the dining room...


Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't...

Summary: Tactical lessons in the dining room...

A/N: This is part of my _A Light in the Darkness_ universe, and is a bit of a sequel to _Coming into His Own_ and _What Lucy Saw_ but this oneshot can be read as a standalone.

**Tactical Lessons**

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Edmund yawned as he sat at the long table in the Royals' private dining room. He glanced over at Peter who was muttering under his breath about something. He wasn't sure if his brother was muttering about the way Alithia had immobilized his broken shoulder, his itchy stitches, or the homework from their last lesson. He sighed as deeply as he dared, given his two cracked ribs and the long line of stitches running down his left side, and struggled to comprehend the diagram of the complex battle maneuver King Frank the Fifth had used to fight off a large army of Giants who had threatened Narnia in the fifth year of his reign. Because of their injuries from the battle that had occurred the week before, both he and Peter had been severely restricted in what they allowed to do, which was why they were forbidden from participating in training or even holding court unless it's an emergency where all four of them were needed. It took three days' worth of begging to get Alithia to agree to them having class in the dining room as opposed to being confined to their room...of course, they were _supposed _to have gone back to their beds already.

Edmund pushed aside his plate containing the remains of his sandwich from lunch then rubbed his eyes. "Peter? Do you understand this diagram? I can't tell which one is the second wave and which one is the third movement of the first wave."

Peter looked up, seeming a little lost for a moment, before his eyes went from Edmund to the large book containing the diagram. "Oh. Umm, let me take a look. Uh, here this line is the forward troops' second turn to come up on...oh wait, that- that's wrong...that's the Giants' rear flank...I think or is it-"

Edmund jumped a little and Peter abruptly cut himself off when a firm voice spoke, "Wolfsbane. How. What are you two doing in here?" They both swiveled around in their chairs to see Oreius standing in the doorway. Their General walked forward with slow steps that Edmund was certain spelled out their doom. He didn't stop until he was standing in the space between their two chairs. Edmund watched in silence as he prepared himself to be scolded then sent to the boredom of being stuck on bed rest, and all the while Oreius' dark eyes darted from him to the open book to Peter and then back to him. There was a hint of reproach in the Centaur's voice when he broke the awkward silence, "My understanding was that your majesties were supposed to be resting this afternoon."

Edmund glanced at Peter then looked back up to meet Oreius' impassive gaze, "Well, we are resting. We're just not resting in our room. I mean, all we're doing is our lesson assignments…or at least we're trying to do them."

He held his breath as Oreius looked at the book again before the Centaur commented, "You are studying the diagram for the First Battle of West Shribble." Edmund nodded wordlessly. "You are having difficulty comprehending the exact mechanics of the maneuver King Frank the Fifth used to turn the battle in his favor." It was a statement more than a question, but Edmund still nodded in confirmation. The huge Centaur towered over him and Peter as they sat in their chairs, not really able to move far on their own, and Edmund wondered when Oreius was going to order them to return their bed rest. But to his surprise, the next words out of Oreius' mouth were nothing of the sort. "Perhaps a more visual approach to the tactical lesson would be beneficial."

Leaning forward slightly, Edmund looked at Peter and saw his brother wore the same surprised expression he knew had to be on his own face. Then, Peter quietly asked, "What do you mean, sir?

Oreius picked up the book and seemed to be intently examining the diagram even as he responded, "King Frank the Fifth was badly outnumbered in this battle and he used advanced tactical skill to turn the tide of battle in his favor. The situation we faced at Beruna was similar to that of the First Battle of West Shribble."

Edmund frowned slightly as he tried to see the similarities between the two battles that were separated by over eight hundred years. "How are they similar? I mean other than being badly outnumbered in each battle."

Oreius shook his head, "As I told your brother, numbers do not win a battle."

Edmund snickered as Peter added, "No, but I bet they help." He watched as his brother flashed the Centaur General a cheeky grin.

Oreius didn't so much as blink...Edmund once again prepared himself for the order to seek their beds. The Centaur abruptly closed the book and barked, "Wolfsbane, How, assemble the diagram of the battle at Beruna."

Edmund exchanged a surprised look with Peter before he forgot his nervousness and protested, "But, Oreius, if we are supposed to be analyzing the First Battle of West Shribble, why do we need to assemble the battle diagrams for Beruna? And, what are we supposed to assemble them out of?"

Oreius gazed down at him with an impassive look that made Edmund want to squirm, but he didn't. "As knights, warriors, and kings, it should be understood that the dissecting and analysis of all possible alternatives to battle plans, especially those that were victorious, is crucial to developing better plans for future battles and improving our tactical comprehension of how minute decisions affect the outcome of a battle. You are most familiar with Beruna for it is a battle you helped plan, fought in, and emerged victorious. Therefore, we shall begin by analyzing the tactics used at Beruna before we progress to analyzing the tactics used by King Frank the Fifth. As for what to assemble the diagram out of...use what is at hand, Sir How."

Edmund frowned in thought as he scanned the table, the only thing at hand was the cutlery, plates, bowls, mugs, and the leftover food from their meal. He froze then a grin slowly crept across his lips as he glanced from Oreius who was watching him to Peter who was frowning at the tablecloth. Then he reached out and flipped one empty plate over. Peter looked at him sharply, "Edmund, what are you doing?"

"Setting up the rocks..." He carefully arranged his bread crusts along the edges of the plate before continuing, "...and the archers."

Peter snickered then he moved one of the knives to the left of the plate and balanced a handful of grapes on it before plucking a blueberry from a small bowl and putting it in the middle of the two bread crusts. At Edmund's questioning look, he grinned, "It's you." Edmund snorted and rolled his eyes at his brother's attempt at cleverness. He finished placing the slices of carrots to mark the positions of their right flank, and then he smirked as he found the perfect thing. "What is that supposed to be?"

He quickly assumed a serious face before he responded, "It's you, of course."

He barely held back a snicker as Peter's eyebrows rose, "Cauliflower? Why?"

Edmund carefully droned as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Because you were riding a Unicorn, of course."

Peter shook his head, but then they both jerked when a large hand reached between them and removed the cauliflower and replaced it with one large red pepper and one red pepper that was about a third its size. Edmund felt his face heat as he realized they had forgotten about Oreius being present. The Centaur was watching them solemnly as he intoned, "I must disagree with your assignment of the cauliflower, Sir How. It is a far more accurate representation of Jadis." He set the cauliflower down across from where they had nearly finished assembling the representations of the Narnian Army and a flash of humor appeared in his dark eyes as he looked down at them and casually commented, "And, this way you may throw it away at the end of the battle."

Edmund and Peter both snickered, in spite of their still-healing wounds. Then, Oreius used his much longer reach to easily finish setting up the rest of the representations of Jadis' forces. As the lesson progressed and they saw another way Beruna might have played out before they switched to setting up the battle diagrams for the First Battle of West Shribble, Edmund realized their actions were very similar to the time that he had seen his dad help Peter recreate the diagrams for the Battle of Agincourt out of some of Lucy's wood blocks. He had been too little to help at the time, and then by the time he asked his dad to show him the battle of Hastings with the blocks, his dad had been too busy getting ready to leave for the war. But, he had promised to do something with him as soon as he got back from the war... Saving the memory for later, Edmund refocused on the battle scenario being played out on the dining table. He felt a sense of pride when Oreius nodded with a pleased grin as he caught on to what the Giants should have tried to do...but were apparently too dense to do...and how King Frank the Fifth had reversed the maneuver to defeat them. Peter leaned over and clapped him lightly on his shoulder, "Well done, Ed!"

Edmund grinned and ducked his head at the praise. Then, he straightened to meet Oreius' gaze, "I think I know another way to defeat them. May we do another scenario...this time with Peter controlling the Giants?"

Oreius nodded, "We may, Sir How. Now, show me your plan for winning the First Battle of West Shribble." Edmund snickered as he realized Oreius expected him to win...he didn't think the Centaur ever liked to lose since the Giants had trounced King Frank the Fifth twice and both times Oreius had controlled the Giants' actions. Of course, if Oreius had been in charge of their army back then, they wouldn't have lost, of that Edmund had no doubt. He was once again seeing why Aslan had chosen Oreius to be their general. He also beginning to see why Oreius was so adamant about numbers not winning the battle...courage and cleverness and experience were also required. Glancing from Peter to Oreius, Edmund realized Narnia had been blessed by Aslan because He had set up three leaders of the army. Peter brought courage, Oreius naturally brought experience, and then Edmund himself brought cleverness. He grinned even wider as he focused on how to trick the Giants into being even more disorganized than they had been in the original battle.

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Susan and Lucy exchanged smiles then they looked up to see Alithia was shaking her head, but also smiling as they all watched Oreius, Peter, and Edmund talking and occasionally laughing as they refought battles with leftovers and the tableware.

Lucy didn't think she had ever seen Edmund smile and laugh like that in a really, really long time.

Susan smiled tenderly as she watched both her brothers getting along even as they exchanged friendly jibes at each other's tactical decisons.

Alithia merely marveled at how close Oreius already seemed to the two young colts who were their kings.

The three withdrew quietly, not wanting to disturb the lesson that was secretly a game. Word quickly spread through the Cair that the Kings and their General were preoccupied with tactical lessons that afternoon and the dining room had been commandeered for these lessons...the Queens merely informed the kitchen staff that they would be dining in Queen Lucy's parlor.

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**A/N: Please Read and Review! So, Susan commented in the most recent chapter of _Don't Judge a Book_ that Peter, Edmund, and army officers had a bad habit of recreating battles with their leftover food and the tableware...and I couldn't resist having Oreius get involved in this first time. Leave a review and let me know what y'all thought about this one.**


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